Shelley A. Kester

I've had experience with a few other attorneys, but none have left me as pleased as Shelley Kester and her law firm. Ms. Kester and her associates provided me the best legal advice in the time when I needed it most. My inquiries and concerns were always promptly and thoroughly addressed, even after... regular business hours. Ms. Kester is extremely knowledgeable in the area of family law, and her experience and guidance have been worth every penny to me in my child custody case. While Ms. Kester is meticulous, thorough, analytical, and diligent, I appreciate her transparency most. She never makes promises she cannot deliver, and she is honest in her assumptions and predictions in how matters in a case may go. Her reliability and trustworthiness make her an asset to her clients in the times when they are most vulnerable. I would highly recommend Ms. Kester to anyone who is serious about their family legal matters.

I believe that it was this site and her high reviews that made me make the decision to go with Ms. Kester as my divorce attorney. Overall I cannot say that I would have been better off with another attorney but I did have some issues with this attorney. Interestingly her secretary at that time told ...me they were not taking new cases but they changed their mind when I told them about our assets of about $500K. One of my first problems was when I dropped off two copies of about 1000 pages of documents that related to my wife's attorneys 'discovery'. Those documents were to be sent to my wife's attorney immediately. Three months later I found out from my wife's attorney the documents were never provided. The secretary told me that they had had some change over in personnel and that the documents were misplaced. I had to provide additional copies of documents that were already provided and it made me look poorly and uncooperative to the opposing attorney and my ex wife. Another issue I had was when Ms. Kester billed me for scanning and emailing these documents at her much higher service rate, when a secretary could have done that at half of the cost. Again these were documents that I had already provided once and had to again and that were late going to the opposing attorney. The next problem was that I was being double billed by their billing person, interestingly there were charges for the exact same service that were on the end of one months bill were then being billed on the beginning of the next months bill. I brought this to their attention and corrections were made. There was a changeover in the billing person as well that probably led to confusion but some of these errors being made were just sloppy accounting as far as I could see. I also noticed charges for looking at emails were made for emails not sent and I was charged for a telephone consult that never happened. Again these corrections were made in my bill but not until after I brought these to their attention. Putting me in this position as a client is not at all comfortable and I was concerned it would negatively impact the lawyer client relationship so I decided to wait on making further billing complaints. This was a mistake as I didn't realize it but there was a clause in the contract I signed with Ms. Kester that stated I had a certain number of days to contest any charge and if I did not contest it in the proper time then I would have to pay it whether it was correct or not. That is what happened in the end. Another problem that cost me over $2000 was in regards to my Michigan Teacher retirement account. Ms. Kester failed to file the correct paperwork with the judge and consequentially what went to the Michigan Office of Retirement Services was not acceptable. As an attorney specializing in divorce cases I assumed she would have experience with that and if she did not she would investigate it properly. The information was easily accessible online at the ORS website. This cost me in several months of reduced pension benefit, plus the attorney costs in correcting this in having the judge sign the proper paperwork. All in all my divorce experience was miserable. On the upside Ms. Kester did not do anything dishonest or counsel me to do so, though this seemed to be no problem for my wife's attorney who was also from Traverse City. She is intelligent but needs to be more conscientious about her individual client and make sure she is correctly wording documentation going before the judge. She also needs to check on her staff to make sure they are doing their job properly. She seemed to have a high turnover rate in staff which would make me apprehensive about going with this attorney. I cannot recommend this lawyer but she is probably better than most. My best advice is to find someone experienced and knowledgeable that will help you mediate a settlement and have in place before one of you even files for divorce and include the settlement with the filing paperwork.

I am very pleased with the service I received from Shelley and her office staff. They kept me informed through the whole process. My ex-husband was very difficcult. He seriously wanted to do everything his way without any regard to the facts or my situation. Shelley's knowledge of divorce law in ...a situation regarding my ex-husband and his attorney changed everything. His attorney terminated their relationship. Now he had no attorney and, with Shelley's support, he was not able to intimidate me. I was able to get the money owed me and he paid my attorney fees. I am so glad I chose Wilson Kester to represent me. I am very, very pleased.

Shelley represented me in my divorce. I had thought my ex-husband would be more involved in the process and that he might engage more in the custody arrangement and plan. When it became clear that this would not be his plan, we had to adjust my plan and move forward. It was a challenging process in ...that I kept expecting a change to my ex's attitude. Shelley and her staff were prepared for whatever change that might be. Ultimately, there were no surprises and I got what was desired for both me and my children.

I have recommended Shelley many times. She showed me so much about being a strong woman. I was in a fight for custody with a man that overpowered me for years and was just scary to me and our girls. She listened to every word we (my family and I) shared with her and for the first time I saw a woman ...stand up to my ex and watched him really crumble on the stand. It was a really hard time in our lives and having Shelley in our corner was truly a God send. My girls are grown now and have children of their own. Things have healed with my ex and his family and we look forward to showing our grandkids a healthy family relationship. None of this would have ever been possible if Shelley wasn't there to help us when we were weak!!!!!!! Shelley went above and beyond in a heated battle for us and we were victorious!!! I would highly recommend Shelley to anyone! She not only was our attorney in an ugly time in our lives but she was a great example to me that a woman can stand up to a man with an anger issue!!! God Bless Shelley, her staff and her family!